This book has a specific niche, but it crushes that niche. If you want a book about divorce from a person with a sense of humor that isn't trying to give you advice, this is the perfect one.

Scaachi Koul writes an email newsletter I love called “A List of People I’m Mad At.” Well, I’m currently mad at someone: her. It’s unfair that someone can write this well, this sharply, this unflinchingly.

This book of essays — where she unpacks her divorce and writes about other traumas she has suffered — is brutally honest. She never tries to make herself look good; she throws punches, she takes punches, and sometimes she pulls punches. Koul provides as much context as she can and lets the reader make up their minds. (I think she lets her ex-husband off much too easily. I’d like to punch him.) She packs plenty of humor into serious topics — disordered eating, sexual assault, the complexities of growing up in an immigrant family, a family member having breast cancer.

Her essays unfold like a novel in the book’s narrative structure, making for an enjoyable read where things have a wonderful flow to them — but, along with a somewhat disjointed structure, maybe make things come off a bit more like a memoir. Koul recontextualizes things she’s written about in the past, reframing them with the hard-won clarity that comes from time (and maybe therapy). It feels like a privilege to witness her working it all out on the page.

And her writing is brilliant. So yeah, I’m mad at her. And I can’t wait for her next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I wasn't sure how I was going to like this book as it is a very different format of what I'm used to as a reader. As primarily a fiction reader, I was intrigued by this essay format and the subject matter, so I thought to give it a try. I really liked the essays -- they pull you in and make you feel like you know the author. I really was drawn to these stories the more pages I read in this. Very easy to read and there were many revelations that hit home and connected with me. If you are looking for this subject matter (home, marriage, life, friendship) then you might like this book.

A mixed bag for me. I appreciated the raw openness of the author as she exposed the breakdown of her marriage. I did find the essays a bit scattered and repetitive though and this diminished my enjoyment of the collection.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

I don’t tend to rate personal essays/memoirs as who am i to deem the entertainment value of someone’s life. Scaachi showed us her soul and it was brutal and honest.

I just really struggled to get into the first essay and the writing style which was difficult to then get into the rest of the collection from.

I'm just not totally sure what to say about this book. It took me a long time to get through, even if it was relatively short. It did not really feel like a collection of essays but rather was mostly the author's musings on her failed marriage interspersed with other memories. There were parts of the book that were truly emotional and certainly traumatic, but overall it was about a marriage I don't understand existing in the first place. She never really gives indication that they really were ever that happy or in love, and it seems a little strange to grieve so much when I don't get the picture of happiness before.

I really liked her first book and admire how she shares things that don’t make her look great or sympathic when she could easily gloss over them or leave them out altogether but this book felt a little flat.

She has gone through a lot but it seems like she was able to dump the loser husband and get closer to her difficult family.

I wish there was a little more variety in the essays, they felt a little repetitive at times.

At first, I was feeling kind of lukewarm about this book of essays - the anecdotes were amusing enough but nothing too terribly exciting. But as I got further into it, the stories became more introspective and affecting. The author managed to be entertaining, while also writing candidly about the resolution of her marriage and how she experienced the subsequent fallout, both as a POC and a woman wronged.
Thanks to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for this #arc of #suckerpunch in exchange for an honest review.

Scaachi Koul gives us heartfelt and hilarious essays of her life during the Covid lockdown, the ending of her marriage, losing her job and her mother being diagnosed with breast cancer.
She examines how the life she thought she would be living drastically changes in what seems like overnight.
A bright new literary voice that is real and refreshing.
I now must read her first book "One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter: Essays".

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an arc of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

Scaachi Kohl's essays read like cringe-funny memoirs. I read her first book, "One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter" to have a point of reference for "Sucker Punch".
I also watched the episodes in Netflix's "Follow This" in which Scaachi interviewed various people, "Internet Whisperers" & "Men's Rights". She is a good writer and a competent, non-biased interviewer, even when the subjects are quite controversial.
The unique aspect of reviewing a book about the author's personal life is that I feel as though I am judging her personally, based on her writing. Scaachi seemed loud and attention seeking in her first book. Her writing seemed defensive and impertinent, and also witty, but I wouldn't want to have a debate with her in a bar! In her second book, Koul reevaluates and expands on her first essays, which give them more depth and meaning - especially about her unprovoked attack by a close male friend in the first book. The reader can see her views have matured and mellowed (slightly) on traumatic events in her life - married life, covid-19, and her mother's illness.
The only criticism I have is that I got tired of hearing so much about her ex husband throughout most of the book.

HELL YEAH. This is THE BEST divorce memoir I've read to date (sorry Leslie Jamison lol). It's beautiful and complex and thoughtful and, most importantly, it has Scaachi's signature bite. I can't wait to read her next book.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for a free ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is out now!

Non-fiction/Essays. In a series of essays, Scaachi Koul details all the ways in which she is fighting in her life, whether it’s with her now ex-husband and the implosion of her marriage during COVID, how fighting in ingrained within her Indian family, her relationship with her self image and her body, and the internet at large, to name a few.

While Koul is clearly a talented writer and gifted story teller, I DNF’d this one when I was about halfway through. Everything skewed negative and honestly kind of put me in a bad mood. It could also be that we’re in much different seasons of life. I’m sure there are a lot of people who will closely identify with Koul - and I did at times - but overall this just wasn’t for me.

Scaachi Koul was not a name I recognized, but her bright green book titled “Sucker Punch” with brass knuckles on the cover caught my attention, and I’m so glad it did.

Sucker Punch is a collection of essays written by author and Buzzfeed reporter, Scaachi Koul. You might know her from Buzzfeed documentaries Scamfluencers or Follow This, or her first book of essays, One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter. I did not know of any of these things because I clearly live under a rock. After reading Sucker Punch, I fully intend to look into Scamfluencers at a minimum.

Scaachi’s essays take the reader into the world of her divorce, written from an introspective, perceptive, and sometimes comical view. While the essay topics may vary, the divorce seemed to be a recurring theme, and the standout point. I saw another review say that this book is pretty great as far as divorce books go, and I have to agree. Her ex-husband clearly had issues with her writing about their lives, decided to cheat, and then worried she’d write about it… and we are glad she did!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was excited to get to dive into another collection of Koul's essays and wasn't disappointed. Despite the fact that we have incredibly different life experiences, it's easy to find relatability in Scaachi Koul's honesty and humor. I enjoy her ability to balance dark or difficult realities with both wit and vulnerability.

I read Sucker Punch (eBook) not too long after reading Koul's other book, One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter (audiobook). As a divorced woman, I could definitely relate to many of the author's feelings about being part of a failed marriage and the aftermath. I didn't relate to much else though. It felt very repetitive of the same themes from her previous book. I also think it was easier to enjoy Koul's writing style in audio format, read in her own voice. I wasn't eager to pick up Sucker Punch in my downtime. I'm sure many will enjoy this book; it just wasn't for me.

A little straighter than I typically read and I didn’t pay attention to the religious aspects and I fear some of the humor may seem dated BUT overall affirming and healing and some relatable parts about being an Online Person. Will def read her first book, this review sounds harsh but if I still rated books it would’ve gotten 4 stars. Thank you to NetGalley.

Thank you, St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for this arc!
What an eye-catching cover! I assume the lime green is a call back to Scaachis journal?..

The one thing that can unite anyone is shared traits in family trauma, and I think that is what connected me to Scaachis story the most. When you live, you live in such a way that you find others that don't live that way to be both aspiring and completely foreign; then you grow up and realize that you were actually molded by that life and are trying yo find someone to accept you or accept them. It's a tragic part of adulting that no one talks about with dating/marriage. I felt Scaachis pain when writing about her marriage and busted out in laughter when she spoke of her family. I think there were some aspects of the story that felt disjointed, but overall, it was a great read.
Here are some of my favorite qoutes:
"You were designed in a lab to drive me insane."

"I wanted to get close to someone without them getting too close to me. I dreamed about being alone and needing no one."

This was my first experience at reading author Scaachi Koul's writing. I was uncertain what to expect, and I appreciate NetGalley giving me the opportunity to read these essays in exchange for a review.

The essay's were honest and often humorous look at what it is like to grown up as the daughter of immigrants to a new country. While I cannot elate to being an immigrant or being brought up by parents who are - I can relate to the human nature of this and of becoming an adult under the watchful eyes of parents.

I am glad for the opportunity to read these essays.

I love Scaachi's writing and I love a good divorce book so this was right up my alley. Scaachi is honest about her divorce, her marriage, and the other relationships in her life while still acknowledging her own flaws and how they contribute to the complicatedness of those topics.

Her essays are refreshingly blunt and she doesn't try to be unnecessarily sentimental or couch some of her feelings with what the "right thing" should be. This book is perfect for those readers who have recently gone through a divorce that was just necessary and not an awful awful thing.

Thankyou to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for a review.